Outstanding Women Architects Recognised in Peru
The Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú celebrates the achievements of Peruvian women architects, recognised for their contributions in design, heritage conservation, urban planning, and public service. The following architects have been honoured in national and international awards, highlighting their impact on the built environment.
Recognised at the XX Bienal de Arquitectura
Patricia Llosa Bueno
Award: Honorable Mention – Single-Family Housing
Project: Casa Cieneguilla
Description: Recognised for her innovative approach to residential architecture, integrating context, materiality, and environmental sustainability.
Award: Honourable Mention – Temporary Housing (beach house, country house).
Project: Casa Villa Brava
Description: located in the Bay of Paracas and responds to its surroundings with open spaces and patios that regulate the climate and create a connection with the landscape.
Sandra María Barclay Panizo
Award: Honourable Mention – Multifamily Housing
Project: Edificio Morada
Description: Acknowledged for her contribution to urban housing solutions, blending functionality, aesthetics, and sustainable practices.
Award: First Place – Book Category
Project: Atlas Sensible
Description: Explores territory, memory, and landscape along the Interoceanic Highway South, blending contemporary thought with ancestral knowledge.
Ruth Julia Alvarado Pflucker
Award: First Place – Multifamily Housing (Over 5 Floors)
Project: Edificio JAUS
Description: Located in Barranco, this project responds to the district’s densification while integrating with its historic and bohemian context. Its trapezoidal geometry creates an efficient spatial layout, avoiding residual spaces. Built with exposed concrete, it features flats and duplexes with double heights and balconies, connecting private and urban life.
Award: Honorable Mention – Multifamily Housing (Over 5 Floors)
Project: Edificio Multifamiliar Arica
Description: Situated in Miraflores near Huaca Pucllana, this building balances solid and void spaces to integrate with its neighborhood. It features a landscaped setback, coworking spaces, and an urban garden, while its balconies and terraces reinforce the connection between interior and exterior, promoting urban living with identity.
Silvia Noelia López Ortega
Award: Honorable Mention – Industrial Category
Project: Oficinas y Almacén ALSA
Description: Recognized for an efficient and functional industrial design in Arequipa, integrating storage and logistics offices on a steep terrain. The project features three vertical blocks connected by metal bridges, enhancing natural lighting and visual integration.
Julia Isabel Granda Gutiérrez
Award: Honorable Mention – Office Category
Project: FLEX by Urbanova: A Different Coworking Space
Description: An innovative transformation of an unused building in Lima’s financial district into a flexible and dynamic coworking space. The design incorporates double and triple-height spaces, skylights, and open areas to enhance natural lighting and connectivity.
Susana Elsa Gema Biondi Antúnez de Mayolo
Award: Honorable Mention – Education Category
Project: Aulario UPAO Piura
Description: Designed to preserve and integrate native algarrobo trees, this university building optimizes ventilation and circulation, creating a sustainable and comfortable learning environment.
Award: Honorable Mention – Health Category
Project: Centro de Salud Castilla
Description: A modular healthcare facility designed for efficiency and sustainability, prioritizing natural lighting, ventilation, and thermal performance to reduce operational costs and enhance patient care.
Carmen Rivas Lombardi
Award: First Place – Facilities Category (Transport, Sports, Worship, Culture)
Project: Camposanto Mapfre Chiclayo en Monsefú – Phase 1
Description: A cemetery design that integrates architecture, landscape, and cultural memory in the Chancay River basin. Featuring a monumental chapel and connecting corridors, the project emphasizes light, shadow, and landscape interaction.
Jessy Liz Rojas Guere & Melissa Elizabeth Torres Samamé
Award: First Place – Urban and Rural Planning Category
Project: Territorial Conditioning Plan for the Province of Chiclayo (PAT) 2022-2042
Description: A strategic urban and rural planning project focused on decentralization, sustainability, and ecological infrastructure.
Paola Esmeralda Marcavillaca Quispe
Award: First Place – Heritage Urban/Rural Space Recovery & Revitalization Category
Project: Registration and Characterization of the Vernacular Architecture of La Jalca Grande – Amazonas
Description: A heritage conservation initiative following the 2021 earthquake, aimed at documenting and preserving the vernacular architecture of La Jalca Grande.
Rosa Patricia Díaz Mendo
Award: Honorable Mention – Book Category
Project: Habitar Gamarra. Protocols in Peruvian Textile In/Formal Commerce
Description: A study of spatial dynamics in Gamarra’s textile market, where formal and informal structures coexist, creating a complex urban system.
Mayra Alessandra León Chávez & Ruth Yesenia Sosa Quispe
Award: First Place – Master’s Thesis Category
Project: Resilient Seasonal Landscapes
Description: A research project on the preservation and sustainable management of coastal hills in Lima Metropolitana.
Valeri Lidiana Chávez Romero
Award: Honorable Mention – Undergraduate Thesis Category
Project: Co-Habiting the Wetland: Towards a New Ecological Urban Model on the Coastal Edge
Description: A research project focused on the Santa Rosa Wetland in Chancay, proposing an urban model that integrates fragile ecosystems into daily community life.
Ana Paula Espinoza Fernández
Award: Honorable Mention – Undergraduate Thesis Category
Project: Sol del Colca
Description: A school design project for Coporaque, Caylloma, Arequipa, addressing educational and cultural needs.
Frida Eveelyn Alcántara Ascarruz
Award: Honorable Mention – Undergraduate Thesis Category
Project: Network of Public Spaces for the Enhancement of the Totorilla Ravine
Description: A heritage and ecological recovery project for Ayacucho, focusing on the archaeological zone of Conchopata, historically linked to the Wari culture but affected by uncontrolled urban growth.
Erika Gabriela Ramos Romo
Award: First Place – Undergraduate Thesis Category
Project: Chakra Lulay: Construction of the Rural Habitat – A Community-Based Agro-Rural Occupation Model in the Mantaro Valley
Description: A sustainable territorial protection model for the Mantaro Valley, addressing the impacts of urban expansion and agricultural fragmentation on rural communities.
Guadalupe del Carmen Ponce Blas
Award: First Place – Architectural, Technological, and Community Project Design Category
Project: Ancestral Journey Through Craftsmanship
Description: A productive center integrating traditional ceramics with the natural environment, located in Loma Amarilla Ecological Park, Surco.
Marta Maccaglia – Territorio de los Saberes
Award: Honorable Mention – Citizen Initiative for Environmental or Urban Improvement
Project: Itinerant Forest Museum
Description: A mobile museum that preserves and shares ancestral knowledge of the Nomatsiguenga Indigenous community in Mencoriari, Satipo, Junín.
Teresa Montoya Robles
Award: First Place – Citizen Initiative for Environmental or Urban Improvement
Project: Seminario de Construcción 1:1
Description: A collaborative learning experience that bridges theory and practice in architecture through full-scale (1:1) construction projects with social impact.
Recognising Female Architects 2024
Cristina Isabel Dreifuss Serrano
Award: Professional Career Award – Academic Architect Category
Recognition: Women Architect Recognition Ceremony 2024 (Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú)
Description: Honored for her leadership in education and research in architecture and urbanism.
Ana Noelia Martínez Valdivia
Award: Professional Career Award – Academic Architect Category
Recognition: Women Architect Recognition Ceremony 2024 (Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú)
Description: Recognized for her leadership in research, urban planning, and academic management.
- Academic Background:
PhD in Architecture and Urban Dynamics
Master’s in Landscape Architecture
- Professional Roles & Leadership:
Former Director of Economy – Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú, Regional Tacna (2020-2023)
Member – Sociedad Nacional de Urbanistas del Perú
General Coordinator – Advisory Committee, Citizen Initiative Forum for Sustainable Development
Cynthia Seinfeld Lemlig
Award: Professional Career Award – Architectural Designer Category
Recognition: Women Architect Recognition Ceremony 2024 (Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú)
Description: Recognized for her contributions to research and design of community spaces in collective housing.
- Professional & Academic Roles:
Founder – Seinfeld Arquitectos
Vice President & Partner – Asociación de Estudios de Arquitectura
Professor – Universidad de Lima (former), Head of Workshop 1 at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
- Academic Background:
Master’s in Architecture with a specialization in Housing – Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería (UNI)
Otty Grima Breña Fernández
Award: Professional Career Award – Developer Architect Category
Recognition: Women Architect Recognition Ceremony 2024 (Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú)
Description: Recognized for her leadership in real estate project management and territorial planning.
- Academic Background:
Architect – Universidad Nacional del Centro del Perú
MBA in Project Management – Universidade de São Paulo (2022-2023)
Diploma in Public Management & Specialization in Geographic Information Systems
- Professional Experience:
10+ years in the public sector & 9 years in private real estate development
Project Verifier at SUNARP since 2015, specializing in land registry and regulatory evaluations
Gladys Antara Arias
Award: Professional Career Award – Technical Architect Category
Recognition: Women Architect Recognition Ceremony 2024 (Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú)
Description: Recognized for her expertise in social development projects and territorial planning.
- Academic Background:
Architect – Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería
Master’s in Planning and Development Projects
Diploma in Public Management
- Professional Experience:
24+ years in public and private sectors, specializing in social development programs
Worked with regional governments, municipalities, and NGOs in land legalization, cadastral management, and construction oversight
Project evaluator for public investment in rural poverty-stricken areas with FONCODES funding
Norma Dina Camborda Zamudio
Award: Professional Career Award – Planning Architect Category
Recognition: Women Architect Recognition Ceremony 2024 (Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú)
Description: Recognized for her contributions to urban development and territorial planning.
- Academic Background:
Master’s in Architecture with a specialization in Urbanism
- Professional Experience:
20+ years in urban planning, land cadastre, and land legalization
Juana Consuelo Zanelli de Vier
Award: Professional Career Award
Recognition: Women Architect Recognition Ceremony 2024 (Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú)
Description: Recognized for her contributions to urban planning and rural infrastructure.
- Academic Background:
Architect – Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería
French Government Scholarship – Studies in construction and urban planning
Specialization in Territorial Planning – Belgium & Germany (1970-1975)
- Professional Experience:
Expert in housing, industrial buildings, and urban infrastructure projects
Member – Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú & Instituto de Urbanismo y Planificación del Perú
Cindy Isabel Watmough Vega
Award: Professional Career Award
Recognition: Women Architect Recognition Ceremony 2024 (Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú)
Description: Recognized for her contributions to architecture, landscape design, and education.
- Academic Background:
Architect – Syracuse University, New York (Degree revalidated at Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería)
Master’s in Landscape and Territory – Universidad Diego Portales, Chile
- Professional & Academic Contributions:
Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, mentoring future generations of architects
Award-Winning Architect, recognized nationally and internationally
María Julia Guevara Ríos
Award: Professional Career Award
Recognition: Women Architect Recognition Ceremony 2024 (Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú)
Description: Recognized for her leadership in public management and governmental oversight in infrastructure projects.
- Academic Background:
Architect – Universidad Ricardo Palma
Master’s in Public Management and Governmental Oversight
Diploma in Business Management – IPAE
Specialization in Hospital Infrastructure Projects & Public Investment Projects
- Professional Experience:
37 years of experience in public sector management and infrastructure project oversight
Key roles in the Contraloría General de la República
Clementina del Pilar Torre Ruiz de Mass
Award: Professional Career Award
Recognition: Women Architect Recognition Ceremony 2024 (Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú)
Description: Recognized for her leadership in urban management, education, and territorial planning.
- Academic Background:
Master’s in University Teaching and Educational Management
- Professional Experience:
Co-founder of the Regional Council of CAP Cajamarca
First female dean of the CAP Consejo Zonal de Cajamarca (1990-2002)
Key roles in the Provincial Municipality of Cajamarca:
Deputy Manager of Urban Planning, Building Permits, and Urban Development
Regional Director of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation of Cajamarca
FPAA Awards 2024
Sandra María Barclay Panizo
Award: Architect of the Americas Award 2024
Recognition: Federación Panamericana de Asociaciones de Arquitectos (FPAA)
Description: Honored for her impact on Latin American architecture, alongside Jean Pierre Crousse, through Barclay & Crousse Architecture.
- Professional & Academic Contributions:
30+ years of experience in architecture and urban design
Professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP)
International jury member in architectural competitions
Read more here (Spanish)
Solangel Fernández Huanqui
Award: Public Service Award
Recognition: Women Architect Recognition Ceremony 2024 (Colegio de Arquitectos del Perú)
Description: Recognized for her impact on urban planning and sustainable development in Peru.
- Key Contributions:
Minister of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation (2020-2021)
Led the National Housing and Urban Development Policy and the Sustainable Urban Development Law, strengthening social housing and territorial management
Reactivated 800+ water and sanitation projects, benefiting vulnerable communities
Promoted bioclimatic housing solutions and urban regeneration in historic neighborhoods like Leticia, Rímac
- Professional Experience:
Expert in metropolitan planning and urban governance
Collaborated with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
Read more here (Spanish)
National Recognition for the Conservation and Promotion of Historic Heritage
Karla Denisse Apaza Mamani
Award: Honorable Mention – Citizen Best Practices in Defense and Promotion of Historic Heritage
Recognition: National Recognition for Conservation and Promotion of Historic Heritage (Second Edition)
Project: Typological Study of Andean Religious Architecture in the Tacna Region (18th-20th Century) and Restoration Proposal for the Queñuavichinca Chapel (Alto Perú)
Description:
Her research project documents, analyzes, and seeks to restore the religious architectural heritage of the Tacna region. Completed in 2016 and disseminated between 2017 and 2023, it is the first comprehensive record of Andean religious infrastructure in the area, identifying 66 temples, 17 of which have disappeared.
Vanessa Lucianna Zadel Velásquez
Award: Second Place – 4th Edition of the Good Practices in Inclusive Management Competition 2024
Recognition: “Recognition for Inclusion and Disability” – Education Category
Organizer: Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations & National Council for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities (CONADIS), Peru
Project: Taller Vertical 10
Description:
Taller Vertical 10 is the first architecture design studio in Peru that integrates seven academic levels of mandatory courses while focusing on accessibility, inclusion, and universal design.